Improvement in wick-trimmers



UNITI-3D STATES PATENT UFFICI-3.

CYRUS L. TOPLIFF, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y.

VIMPRovEMi-:NT IN wulcK-TRIMMERS.

Specification formingpart of Letters Patent hlm-48,7113, dated July 11,1865.

To 'all whom it may concern:

,Be it known that I, GYRUs L. ToP'LIFF, of the city, county, and Stateof New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement inWick-Trimmers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilledin the art to make and use the same, reference beinghad to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of the specification.

In the use of coal-oil, particularly for illuminating purposes, muchdiiculty and annoyance have been heretofore experienced in the trimmingof the wicks of the lamps employed, for the principal reason that theymust be trimmed with the utmost-accuracy and evenness to enable the wickto be raised to a sufficient height above its tube as to give therequisite and desired amount of light without in the least degreecausing the lamp to smoke, the disagreeable and unpleasant effects ofwhich have been too often experienced by every person using kerosene-oilto need any particular enumeration or mention herein.

Heretofore a pair of scissors have generally been employed for thetrimming of coal-oillamp wicks, but with which, as is well known, it wasalmost impossible, and required much care and experience, aswell asconsiderable time, to trim them with the proper and requisite evennessto produce the desired llame and light.

Therefore the present invention has for its principal object, and whichis secured thereby, ,the production of a simple instrument or device bywhich the wicks of coal-oil or other similar lamps can be easily,rapidly, and readily trimmed with the necessary evenness to produce aclear llame of the desired size without causing the lamp to smoke. Iaccomplish this result by arranging within any suitable guiding-frame acutter or knife-blade in such la manner that when moved by any suitableoperating devices connected therewith (after having been rst placed uponthe wick-tube in the proper position) will cnt or sever the wick withthe requisite evenness and with but little trouble or loss of time, theadvantages of which are many and so apparent to all as to need noparticular mention herein.

I have also made some other improvements in the general and detailarrangement of the cutter nd its operating devices, which will behereinafter particularly described.

In the accompanying plate of drawings my improvements are represented,Figure l being a view of the under side' of the same; Fig. 2, alongitudinal section taken in the plane of the line a' x, Fig. l; Fig.3, a transverse section taken in the plane of the line y y, Fig. 2.

a et in the drawings represent a frame, made of brass, cast-iron, or anyother suitable metal or material, and consisting of two side pieces, band o, connected together at one end by a cross-piece, d.

`fis the knife or cutter-blade, made of any suitable material, andmoving in grooves g g upon the inner surfaces of the side pieces, b ando, extending' in the direction of their length. The knife-blade f issharpened upon its inner end, h, and when moved toward the end piece, d,of 'the frame it first passes over the open space l between it and thesame, in which the wick of the lamp is placed, as will be hereinafterdescribed, and then over and upon the fixed plate or cutter-blade m ofthe end piece, d.

To the knife-blade j, and upon the under side thereof, is hung upon apivot, n, a connecting-bar or rod, o,- attached and hung by its outerend, p, to an`d in the projecting piece q of the swinging handle, lever,or arm r of the side' piece, b, a corresponding-shaped handle, s, beingsecured to or forming a part of the opposite side piece, o.

When the implement, arranged as described, is to be used, it is firstplaced upon the wicktube ofthe lamp so as to bring the space L betweenthe end of the knife-blade and the cross-piece d directly over the wickin the tube, and in such a position with regard thereto that as the wickis raised by the spur-wheel ordinarily employed therefor it shall, as itmoves upward, pass with perfect ease through the same, the frame of theimplement resting by the shoulder t of its cross-piece d upon the top ofthe tube'. The wick, after having thus been raised tothe desired heightwithin the cutting implement, as above described, according as it isnecessary to cut more or less of it ofi' to produce a clear flame to thelamp, is then severed or cut by simply turning with the hand theswinging handle of theframea,which, through its connecting-bar o, causesthe knifeblade f to be moved directly and in a hori- Zontal plane towardand through the wick, severing and cutting that portion of the wick asdesired, and with the utmost ease, requiring no especial care orexperience, the wick also being cut perfectly true and even,'as isevidentwithoutfurtherdescription. Theknifeblade, after having severedthe wick, as described, is then retracted or drawn back and away fromthe saine by means of the bent spring` Z Z attached at olle end to thehandle,

' between which and the lixed handle it is comitin its central andintermediate portion or portions, as is evident.

If in case it should be desired to give a rounding shape to the top ofthe wick in the tube, it is only necessary to so rnake the cutting-bladeas to impart such a form thereto; but I deem it best and have found byexperience that if the wick can be trimmed with a perfect even andstraight eut it isA much more desirable and effective.

Both handles of the frame may be hung upon pivots and attached to theknife-blade as described for the handle r; but one is sufficient to givethe requisite force to the knife-blade to cut the wick.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. Thecombination of the ixed cutter fm and movable cutter f, arranged inparallel planes, and operating substantiallyin the manner and for thepurposes specified.

2. In combination with the aforesaid cutters f and m, the handle r, whenso pivoted as t0 C. L. TOPLIFF.

Witnesses:

W. HAUFF, ALBERT W. BROWN.

